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Q&A With Head Volleyball Coach Jim McLaughlin

The Washington Volleyball team opens the 2004 season this week with four matches on tap. First up, the Huskies will host an exhibition match against Trinity Western on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. Washington will then travel to DeKalb, Ill., to take part in the NIU Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational, Sept. 3-4. The Huskies will face Horizon League powerhouses Butler and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, before rounding out the tournament against host Northern Illinois. The Huskies have been practicing for the last two and a half weeks and head coach Jim McLaughlin is looking forward to seeing his team take the court tomorrow night.UW Media Relations: 'How has preseason practice gone so far?'Jim McLaughlin: 'We are making progress. Some days we make more progress than other days, but that is how it should be and how it is going to be. We have identified the areas that we need to spend time on, and we are working on them and seeing some improvement. Some days are slower than other days.'UW MR: 'Has anyone surprised you during the first few weeks?'JM: 'I'm impressed with all the freshman and how they have handled the first 16 days of training. They are not close to where they are going to be, but it is clear that they are going to be great players if they approach this thing the right way everyday. Everyone else is making progress. I can say collectively as a group that we are making progress. I think we can be pretty good, but we'll know in November.'UW MR: 'What is your game plan for the week ahead?'JM: 'I want the matches to reflect what we have addressed in practice thus far. We will also use the matches to identify areas that we need to address. We are going to want to take care of our passing systems and our offense and stay in rhythm. We haven't spent a lot of time working on defense so we will have to address that. The nice thing about playing is you identify areas that you need to address and then you go into practice and address them. For this first match against Trinity Western, because we don't have a scouting report against them we just have to do what UW does, focus first on what we are capable of doing and then execute what we do. We don't look sideways and don't compare ourselves to anyone. We are going to run the floor the way we run it. And then, as we get some information about the other team, we will start to get on their tendencies a little. We for sure have made process in the first 16 days.'